Malaysia's Anwar applies for judicial review of his conviction

Jailed former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday applied for a fresh judicial review of his conviction and five-year jail term for sodomy, his last legal recourse after an appeal was rejected. Anwar, 67, who is currently serving his jail term in the Sungai Buloh prison here, said he believed that to prevent injustice, the judgement of the earlier Federal Court ought to be reviewed and his sentence and conviction be set aside.

Alternatively, Anwar wants his criminal appeal to be re-heard on its merit by the apex court and wants a new panel of judges to set aside the previous order.

In his nine-page affidavit, Anwar alleged that the extraordinary swiftness and timing of the statement and its contents gave the impression to the public that PMO knew of the result in the case even before its pronouncement.

"This is because any judgement or decision of this court whether rendered in civil or criminal causes or matters or appeals are always subject to secrecy," said Anwar.

"It is not the practice of PMO to issue such a statement in any other criminal appeal and it has not happened in the past?in any case. I state that it is the abnormality in the conduct of the PMO has caused me grave prejudice," he said.

 In his grounds to support his application, Anwar claimed that the judgement ought to be reviewed because the release of the Prime Minister's Office's (PMO) statement on the date of judgement which sought to justify his conviction and the conduct of lead prosecutor later render the judgement objectively unsafe.